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Posted on Tue, Jan 8, 2013 : 8 p.m.

Make it easier being green in Washtenaw County: 2013 New Year's Resolutions

By Washtenaw County Public Health

Arriving in the world just in time for 2013, Geethanjali Mathias and the rest of the children in Washtenaw County hope you will consider a green New Year’s resolution or two this year.

It really isn't always easy being green, but most of us try and most of us could do better. Maybe last year you got in the habit of trashing the recyclables, developed an addiction to swigging Evian all day or sleeping with the TV on, or you repeatedly drove to the next county to pick up the kids from gymnastics when it was soccer day. Whatever your transgressions against the environment in 2012, the keys to any lifestyle change are small, imperfect steps in a new direction.

Here are 15 New Year's resolutions for a greener 2013:

1. Plan aheadWho hasn't run back to the grocery for a vital ingredient or intended to walk a few blocks, but run late and ended up driving anyway? Recycling is the most touted route to waste reduction, but a little forethought and preparation can arguably make more impact. Resolving this year to write out shopping lists, to set the alarm a few minutes earlier, or to stow a blanket in the car for cold mornings will cut down on wasted fuel. To proactively head off future wastefulness, make premeditated modifications to your regular activities like planting native flowers instead of grass in order to mow less often, upgrading to Energy Star appliances or relocating to a yoga studio within walking distance.

2. Refuse plastic bagsWant to help marine life, quell pollution and make a statement about your commitment to the environment, all while shopping? Decide to forgo plastic bags from now on. Americans use about 100 billion shopping bags annually. Less than 1 percent are recycled, and the rest leach contaminants into soil and water for centuries as they break down. Be prepared the next time you are offered, "Paper or plastic?" by storing durable, reusable totes in the trunk, and carry a compact version in your backpack or purse.

3. Buy sustainable stuffWhat you put in your shopping bags has a far greater potential to shrink the size of your carbon footprint than the type of bag you choose. One of the best ways to overhaul a wasteful, consumer-driven lifestyle is to commit to buying locally produced and organic food, biodegradable household products and items with the least amount of excess packaging. Package-free staples like flour, rice or sugar can be bought by the pound; farmers' markets supply seasonal produce year round; and plain vinegar effectively disinfects and cleans without chemical residues. Finding greener products takes a little extra effort, cash, and research, but short of giving up your car, the cumulative impact of a year's worth of green purchasing packs a bigger, greener punch than any other personal choice.

4. Just say NO to bottled waterContrary to the marketing hype of the bottled water industry, filtered tap water is the safest and purest water around. Washtenaw County's tap water is high-quality and municipal water systems are highly regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while bottled water is not. Additionally, in the U.S. one and a half million barrels of oil are squandered annually producing the bottles themselves, not including the fuel wasted transporting them. Unless you were diligent about recycling bottles, every water bottle you ever gulped from is still around somewhere, perhaps swirling in the ocean or buried in the landfill. To make refillable, stainless bottles convenient, keep one at home, one at the office, and another in the car, and add a filter to the tap or keep a pitcher in each fridge.

5. Brew shade grown coffee Drinking coffee is good for the environment when the beans come from coffee grown under the rainforest canopy. Tropical forests are being cleared to make way for monoculture at an alarming rate. Shade grown coffee farms produce coffee in the understory of an intact rainforest, providing habitat for a rich diversity of species, especially migratory birds. A Mexican study found close to 200 species of birds on shade coffee farms, while sun-coffee farms had less than 10. Be sure to use a travel mug!

6. Quit smokingA resolution to stop smoking not only improves your health and the air quality in the immediate atmosphere, but also protects the environment. Anyone who has collected litter from a park or beach will attest to the ubiquitousness of cigarette butts. Made of plastic and saturated with toxins, cigarette filters percolate chemicals into the water for decades. In addition, tobacco farming is water-intensive, plants are soaked in pesticides, and most tobacco is cured using high heat from burning wood or fossil fuel. Smokefree.gov offers a host of tools to help make quitting successful, including apps, peer and professional support, and information about ways to suppress cravings.

7. Go on a dietNo list of resolutions is complete without the hackneyed pledge to lose weight. To the more than half of the country who are already struggling to slim down: dieting is good for the environment! Obviously when less food is eaten, less energy is spent growing and transporting it, but more fuel is also used to transport heavier passengers than lighter ones. Due to weight gain, cars burned a billion extra gallons of gasoline annually between 1960 to 2002. Even the "Jack Sprats" among us can curtail their overindulgence by resolving to dine on vegetarian cuisine at least once a week.

8. Skip the drive-through Don't worry, you needn't abstain from French fries for an entire year. Rather than waste fuel idling near the drive-through window while your burger is flipped, park the car and purchase inside at the counter. If the average wait for a milkshake is 159 seconds, every year Americans burn 50 million gallons going nowhere, waiting at fast food joints!

9. Carpool or bike to work at least once a weekUnless you regularly criss-cross the country in a private aircraft, driving less this year is the number one way to curtail your contribution to climate change. The average round trip commute is 32 miles, so deciding now to carpool to work on Tuesdays is a good start. The University of Michigan's GreenRide and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority's (AATA) VanRide programs can connect you with potential carpoolers. Can't handle sharing your Prius with smelly coworkers? Commit to bike to work as soon as the mercury hits 40 degrees or only run errands once a week.

10. Unplug everythingRid your home of vampire power in 2013. No need to grab the garlic; the vampires in this case are electronic chargers, gadgets and appliances that continue to suck energy from the socket even when a device is idle. A miniscule amount of electricity is drawn by a single vampire, but most homes average about 40, consuming 10 percent of the total household power. So, if you're not using it, unplug it! Make a new habitat of unplugging all electric items as soon as you are finished with them — microwaves, the oven, coffee pots, video games, TVs, lamps, etc. — everything except devices that must run continuously like the refrigerator. For computers and related peripherals like scanners or printers, use a power strip that switches off when the computer is in standby mode.

11. Stop the bleedingAmericans are blessed with an abundant flow of inexpensive electricity and water. Without a thought we run water while shaving, warm and cool our homes while we are away, and luxuriate in the shower. Start the New Year with a pledge to green your daily routine by making small changes that save energy and water. Invest in a smart thermostat that learns your patterns and adjusts to save energy or set an older thermostat to 68 degrees in the winter and 78 degrees in the summer. Turn off the tap whenever possible, take five-minute showers, wash clothes in cold water and run the dishwasher only when full. The savings from these modifications can be substantial.

12. Go paperlessToday virtually any activity that once required paper can be accomplished electronically, toilet paper being a notable exception. Start the New Year by switching to direct deposit, online billing and statements, and opt for the digital version of magazines, catalogs and books when possible. Instead of printing photos and documents share them instantly via the cloud. Every year 87,500,000 trees could remain standing if Americans used half as much copy paper.

13. Start a compost pileWashtenaw County makes disposing of most recyclables fairly effortless — just rinse and toss them in the bin. Composting your organic waste is just as easy once you are in the habit. Not sure how to start the pile? Washtenaw County's Solid Waste Program offers instructions online and workshops for groups. Composting keeps methane and leachate out of landfills, and come spring your plentiful supply of organic fertilizer may inspire a garden or two!

14. Volunteer for conservation or sign up for planned monthly givingWe all hope the world will be better in 2013, but volunteers make it happen. Count toads for Natural Areas Preservation, clean ovens for Habitat for Humanity's ReStore program, pull garlic mustard with the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy, record your "wild" observations for Nature Abounds, or grow tomatoes for the needy at Edible Avalon. Can't spare a minute? Enroll in planned monthly giving for a deserving conservation group, and give all year without a second thought.

15. Travel greenerWhen traveling this year try out some greener alternatives to flying. Take the train for day trips, and for vacations, take a roadtrip with your family packed in the backseat. The perfect resolution for frequent flyers: choose only direct flights this year. If you book in advance, a non-stop option is almost always available for domestic flights, and since half of the carbon emissions are generated during takeoff and landing, it's worth a few extra bucks or a slightly delayed departure.

Most of these resolutions involve a small sacrifice, but the momentary hardship of choosing to be green over the convenience of the alternative reaffirms the value of the earth's finite resources and a personal commitment to caring for them. As your green New Year's resolutions evolve into habits, let's hope the feelings of discomfort in a (temporarily) frosty car, of missing that dearly-loved mid-winter zucchini, of being squeezed into the back-seat with strangers, or of loitering at the airport for a direct flight, will begin to subside.

If the satisfaction of environmental responsibility isn't motivating enough to compel you to adopt a few greener habits this year, fortunately many green decisions provide an inherent financial incentive. Take on just one green resolution in 2013. Set aside the savings from skipping bottled water, not smoking, or carpooling weekly, and by 2014 you may be considering a few more green strategies!

If you slip up a bit, don't give up, and here's wishing you a Happy New Year!

Mary Mathias is a Media Outreach Coordinator for Washtenaw County Public Health's Environmental Health Division, and she reports on environmental issues in the county. She can be reached at mathiasm@ewashtenaw.org. Her assistant, Rizzo, wishes everyone a barktacular New Year.

Comments

Sarah Rigg

Wed, Jan 9, 2013 : 2:45 p.m.

That study about obesity causing extra fuel costs is based on really whacked math. the authors admit they did not know a lot of variables. Here's a great analysis:
http://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/the-true-cost-of-fatties/
Instead of resolving to &quot;go on a diet&quot; which fails more than 95 percent of the time, why not resolve to eat better and move more and let the scale do whatever it will? That's the core of a concept called Health at Every Size, and it's proven to have long-term benefits and to be more easy to maintain than intentional weight loss.
http://www.nutritionj.com/content/10/1/9